All-Star Academy
by ravengal
Summary: AU. Link gets invited to an incredibly bizarre academy, along with 43 other people that were dragged in from all corners of the galaxy. He's there purely to perfect his fighting skills, but there's someone named Marth who's attracting his attention. LinkMarth
1. House of Crazies

Author's note: Hi there!

... I dunno what's wrong with me. Lol. It's just that the severe lack of (IN-CHARACTER) Link/Marth fics on the site is giving me withdrawal symptoms. It's my freaking crack addiction, man, _okay_?

Anyway, I'll make this a one-shot for now. If it's popular enough, I might continue it. We'll see.

Now, if any of you fall into any plotholes... any at all... please let me know and I'll call in the plothole cement trucks immediately.

Lastly, the fic is based very loosely on Crash Nebula from Fairly Odd Parents. XD Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter One: House of Crazies**

Link felt nervous as he approached his door. Part of him still wondered if this was all some crazy dream and he was going to wake up soon, though another part of him knew this was real. He was really attending an academy. It wasn't just your average academy, either.

He still remembered the moment when he'd first been accepted into this place. He hadn't believed it at first. It had just been too ridiculous. After finishing high school - and becoming an accomplished swordsman, courtesy of Rusl - he'd received a mysterious letter telling him that he held promise as a fighter and was invited to attend All-Star Academy for two years. What had been strange was that hadn't even _applied_ for it. Even stranger was that the letter had told him that, if he wanted to view the place, he was to stand in Ordon Spring at a certain time on a certain day. He'd raised an eyebrow at this and assumed it had been a practical joke. When he'd told Ilia, she'd agreed with him, but he'd decided to see for himself anyway. If it was just Talo messing with him, he could laugh along and gently scold the boy, then there would be no harm done, so he'd stood in the spring and waited.

What he'd discovered next had blown his mind on so many levels. The spring had actually been used to teleport him from Hyrule to, well, _somewhere_ and two giant floating hands had been there to greet him. After Link had gotten over his shock, they had introduced themselves as the founders - as well as the principal and vice principal - of All-Star Academy. The vice principal had been making weird finger motions and cackling creepily the entire time the principal had been talking.

It had taken him a while to _believe_ the idea, let alone _agree_ to it. Yet - after saying goodbye to his friends and makeshift family, promising to visit them on his first vacation - here he was, standing in front of the room that would be his dorm for the next two years. It was quite daunting.

Taking a deep breath - and tightening his grip on the handles of his wheeled suitcase and large bag - he pushed the slightly ajar door open with his elbow. Peering inside, his eyes widened considerably at the individual sitting on one of the beds. He was dressed like some form of Greek god, but the most shocking thing about him was that he had wings! He certainly didn't remember _this_ guy from Open Day. Maybe he'd been there on a different day.

The guy looked up and beamed. "Hey there!" he said. "You must be my new roomie!"

"Uh..." Link replied, "yeah..." He put his bag on the floor and leaned his suitcase against the wall.

The guy jumped off the bed, walked over and offered his hand. "I'm Pit! From Angel Land!"

Link slowly took his hand and shook it. "Link... from Hyrule..." _Angel Land?_ he thought in disbelief.

"Nice to meet you, Link!" He let go of Link's hand and stared at him for a second. "Hey, you have pointy ears!"

Link felt slightly self-conscious. "Uh, yeah."

"Are they real?" Pit reached over and twiddled the tip between his thumb and forefinger.

A shiver ran down Link's spine, so he quickly pulled away. "_Yes_, they're real..."

"Cool!"

"Are... _those_?" He pointed to Pit's wings.

Pit blinked. "Huh?" He glanced at his wings, then laughed. "Yeah, they're real!" He flapped them a couple of times to prove his point.

_So, I'm bunking with a real angel... _ Link thought. _Huh... First, the giant floating hands and now this. What other crazy stuff is in this school?_

"_Hyaaaargh_!" came a two-fold scream before it was followed by a large thud.

Link whipped his head around. That scream had sounded awfully familiar. _Too_ familiar.

"What the hell was _that_?" Pit cried.

The two of them ran out of their door to see what was going on. When Link saw what was in front of him, he was completely floored. There, sitting in the middle of the corridor, were two Hylians that looked a _lot_ like _him_. They were even wearing the same outfit as him! One was much older than the other - and had a fairy floating by his head - and both were staring at each other as if they'd seen a ghost.

"Well, this is interesting..." the fairy said.

"What the hell...?" Link muttered.

"... Hey!" Pit said. "They look like _you_!"

The two Hylians turned in their direction. "_Hyaaaargh_!" they both screamed, pointing at Link. He could only stare back in amazement.

"Are you three related?"

"N-No... I don't... _think_ so..."

At this point, many other residents were piling out of their rooms to see what the commotion was. He could see so many people, all of different shapes, sizes and species - some of which he recognised from Open Day - but he was mainly focused on the duo on the floor. They couldn't really be _him_, could they? Surely not.

"_Hyaaaargh_!" came another scream.

Link spun his head in the direction it had come from and his jaw fell open. There, in front of him, was _another_ Hylian that looked like him, this one with cat eyes. He felt sure he had to be dreaming now.

"... Wow, four Links!" Pit cried. "That's so cool!"

"_Your_ name's Link, _too_?" the cat-eyed Hylian asked.

"Wha-?" the older Hylian behind Link asked. "So's mine!"

"A-And mine!" the younger Link cried.

"... Oh, wow!" Pit said. "So there really _are_ four Links! That's awesome!"

Link felt a headache coming on. Holding his head, he slowly started to amble back into his room.

"Link?" a voice asked.

Stopping, he turned around. "Huh?" he asked, lowering his hand. His eyes bulged at the person he saw standing nearby. "_Princess Zelda_?"

"I wasn't aware that you were _also_ attending All-Star Academy." She glanced around her. "I... also wasn't aware that there were _four_ of you..."

"Ooh!" Pit said. "She's a princess? Nice to meet you, milady! I'm Pit!"

Zelda stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "It's very nice to meet you, Pit. Are you Link's roommate?"

"Yes, I am! I'm also an angel from Angel Land!"

She blinked. "An... angel?"

"Yep! So, who's _your_ roomate?"

She quickly recovered. "A fellow princess who hails from the Mushroom Kingdom. Her name is Peach."

"Oh, cool! There's more than one princess staying here!"

"Yes. I..." Zelda's eyes widened at something behind Link.

Curious, Link turned to look and stumbled in stock. Standing there was _another_ Zelda, who was staring wide-eyed at the Zelda _he_ knew.

"Um... hello..." the second Zelda said.

"Hello... I... take it _your_ name is Zelda, as well?"

"Yes, it is..."

Link grabbed his aching head. _What's next?_ he thought. _Two freaking Ganondo...?_

Before he'd even finished the thought, he noticed two Ganondorfs at the end of the corridor, who were sizing each other up with heavy scowls. Unable to take any more, he scurried back into his room and collapsed onto his bed, groaning. What a day this had been.

* * *

A while later, Link was packing away his belongings, his mind still on the crazy situation that he'd gotten himself into. Four Links, two Zeldas and two Ganondorfs, not to mention all the other students who were all from different dimensions. This had to be the most bizarre academy in the universe.

"Hey, what's this?" Pit asked from across the room. There was a bleep and a strange whooshing noise. "Whoa!"

Link looked up from placing underwear in a drawer. "Huh?" he asked. What he saw made him stumble slightly in shock. He suddenly got the feeling that he'd be doing that a lot in this place. "Whoa."

Pit's toga and wings had gone from being white to golden. The angel looked himself over from every angle, then looked at his reflection in the full-length mirror. "Whoa, cool! This must be the thing Master Hand was blathering on about on Open Day!"

Link blinked. "Huh?" Then he remembered. The principal had mentioned them being able to change their appearance whenever they wanted and the mechanism to do so would be in their rooms. They would all have one each. "Oh, that."

"This is awesome! I wonder how many colours there are!" He pressed the button on the remote a few more times. Each time, he changed a different colour. He laughed. "This is great!" His toga and wings suddenly turned black and his eyes widened. "Holy eggplants!"

Link closed the drawer and stood up to face the angel. "What?"

"I... I'm..." He turned to Link with an incredulous look on his face. "I'm Pittoo!"

Link blinked again. "You're... what?"

"Pittoo! Dark Pit. The dark version of me." He paused, looking himself over. He suddenly beamed. "This is so cool!"

Link smiled, giving a small sigh. It seemed like everything was cool to this guy. He glanced around, looking for his own remote, and soon spotted it. It was easily identifiable by the triforce symbol on it. Walking over to it, he picked it up and pressed the red button on it.

Instantly, his tunic changed colour. It was quite breathtaking. Never, in his life, had he ever known a device to do this. He'd only ever thought this outfit could be green, but this weird academy was breaking all the rules of physics, one after another.

"Wow..."

He pressed the button a few more times, admiring all the different colours of his tunic, until he eventually landed on black.

Pit gasped. "Oh, my God! _You_ have a dark form, _too_?"

"Huh?"

Link looked at his reflection and blanched at the sight of it. This one had clearly done a lot more than simply change his tunic colour. His face was soot black and his eyes were blood red. It looked quite disturbing.

"So there's a Dark Link too, huh?"

"Uh... not that _I_ know of..."

He quickly changed his colour back to green.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent settling in and getting to know a few of the other students on the same floor as them. Link had never been much of a people person, but was able to open up if the people he spoke to were nice. The following day, Link and Pit had to attend homeroom in another building across the campus. Entering the room, they chose to sit near one another in the middle and wait for the rest of the students to arrive.

After a while of chatting to one another, with the classroom slowly filling up, Link casually glanced up to watch the remaining stragglers coming in when his eyes caught sight of something. They widened a fraction.

A very pretty girl was parting ways with a red-haired boy at the door. The boy walked off down the corridor and the girl entered the classroom. Her scowling eyes scanned the available seats before she walked over to one fairly nearby and sat down. Link tried not to stare, but he couldn't help being captivated by the beauty of this girl. She appeared to be foreign, with delicate features, silky blue hair that ran down her neck and matching blue eyes. This was complimented perfectly by the small tiara that sat on her head, which suggested that she may be a princess. The most striking thing about her, though, was her clothing. She wasn't wearing a dress like either of the Princess Zeldas. Instead, she was wearing an outfit much like his own, except hers looked much more expensive. The cape was a nice touch, too. She was clearly a tomboy of some description. Maybe she wasn't happy with her life as a princess, or something.

Suddenly, she looked up at him. Nervous, he quickly snapped his head back to the front of the classroom.

* * *

There had been some confusion when the teacher had finally turned up. He/she/it had turned out to be what he/she/it had called a 'red alloy' and had told them that all of their teachers would be either 'alloys' or 'wire frames'. It was the strangest teacher that Link had ever seen. Then again, with the principal and vice principal being giant floating hands, he supposed it came with the territory.

When homeroom finally ended, it was time to head to his first class of the year. As he got up from his seat, he pulled his timetable from his pocket, unfolded it and looked it over. It seemed he had Brawl Theory in the Vicorage building.

"Brawl Theory, huh?" Pit asked over his shoulder.

"Yeah," he replied, starting to walk, while still staring at the sheet.

"Well, I've got Melee Practice first thing, so I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Oh, look out."

"Hmm?" He looked up and bumped into someone. "Oh!" He backed off. "Sorry about that." His eyes widened when he saw who it was.

The blue-haired girl from earlier frowned at him. He shrunk under the gaze.

She gave him a curt nod. "Hmm," she said. Flicking her fringe - he couldn't help notice the slight swing of her hips as she did this - she turned around and departed the classroom, her cape swishing behind her.

Link was embarrassed at the interaction, but damn, that girl was pretty. Slightly taller than him, yes, but still very pretty.

"Hey, Link," a distant voice said. "Liiiink..."

He shook it off and looked at Pit. "Huh?" he asked.

"You okay there, Link?"

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine."

* * *

Throughout the day, Link found that he shared a couple of classes with the blue-haired girl. This surprised and pleased him. He wasn't sure that she actually liked him at all - especially considering the way she'd looked at him that morning - but it was nice to see her, nonetheless. He was never able to find out her name, though, since she never sat anywhere near him and they simply _signed_ the register when it came to their table. That was mildly annoying, but he wasn't going to let it phase him too much.

Eventually, when he got back to his room at the end of the day, Pit was chatting to the red-haired boy from that morning. Link was surprised to see him there.

Pit looked up at him. "Oh, hey, Link!" he said. "This is Roy!"

"Hi there!" Roy said, giving a small wave.

"He comes from some place called Pherae!" Pit turned to Roy. "Roy, this is my roommate, Link! He comes from some place called Hyrule!"

"Well, that's cool. Nice to meet you, Link."

Link smiled and nodded. "Likewise," he replied.

Pit looked back at Link. "Roy's also Japanese!" he said. "Aren't you, Roy?"

Roy answered in a strange language that Link neither knew nor understood. The only two languages _he_ could speak were English and Hylian.

"That meant 'Yes, I am'," Roy explained.

"Oh!" Link replied.

"See?" Pit said excitedly. "Isn't he cool? He's Marth's roommate!"

The name sounded familiar, somehow. "Marth?"

"Yeah, the guy in our homeroom that _also_ speaks Japanese!"

Link furrowed his brows, trying to remember him. "Um..."

"... Oh! Yeah! He was the guy you bumped into this morning!"

Link snapped out of his thoughts and stared at Pit. "... What?"

"You remember! The blue-haired guy who wears a tiara!"

Roy chuckled. "Yeah, that's Marth," he said.

Link continued to stare at them.

Pit tilted his head at him. "What's wrong, Link?"

Link blinked, then shook it off. "Wait..." he said, "that was a...?" He felt too embarrassed to finish the sentence.

Pit looked confused, but a sly smile appeared on Roy's face. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared. "You thought he was a girl, didn't you?" he asked.

Link felt heat rise to his face. He fidgeted uncomfortably. "Well..."

Pit blinked at him, then burst out laughing. "You thought Marth... Prince Marth of Altea... was a girl?" he asked.

Link's eyes widened slightly. "He's a... prince?"

"Yeah! I met him on Open Day! He's super grouchy and doesn't talk much."

"Yeah," Roy agreed. "He mainly talks to _me_ 'cause I'm the only other person here who speaks Japanese." He paused. "Actually, I'm guessing that's why Master Hand made us roommates in the first place."

Link wanted to hide under a rock. That girl, that really pretty girl that he'd been admiring all day, was actually a guy?

_Gods above_... he thought, putting a gloved hand to his face as Pit continued to laugh, _this really **is** the most bizarre academy in the universe..._


	2. Encounter

Author's note: Hey again!

So, yeah. It was always at the back of my mind to make this a proper fic, so here we go!

Unlike my other Link/Marth fic (which is mostly drama and friendship), this one will be mostly humour, I think. Hard to say at this point. If it ever changes, then the catagory will change along with it.

P.S. Yes, this fic is an AU, so it diverts from every single one of the game canons. I've no idea why I decided to do that. It just seemed like a fun idea at the time. Lol. Plus, this way, it's not too similar to Double-edged Sword.

P.P.S. Spot the reference in the title!

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Two: Encounter**

Link had to admit, it had certainly been an interesting week. His classes had been some of the strangest he'd ever taken in his life, but he supposed he couldn't complain. In high school, he'd learned all the usual stuff - English, Math, Science, etc. - but All-Star Academy didn't bother with _any_ of that. It was purely a fighting school, designed to hone your skills. He had to be sure to thank Rusl properly for training him in the art of sword-fighting, as well as Princess Zelda for granting him the legendary Master Sword. It was thanks to _them_ that he'd been invited here in the first place.

He enjoyed the theory classes and the history classes, but his favourites were the practice classes. True, they were only learning the basics at the moment, but he could already tell that, once they'd all mastered those basics, it would be a lot of fun.

Over the course of the week, Pit, being the social butterfly that he was - which was ironic, considering that he had wings - had introduced him to a vast number of the other students, all of which had only enrolled this year, since the building had only recently been founded. He'd gotten to know all three of his dopplegangers and had found that, despite being incredibly similar to him in many ways - including all wielding Master Swords and Hylian shields - they'd all come from different backgrounds and were all slightly different in personality.

He'd also seen Prince Marth out and about, but was continuing to avoid him. The gender confusion from the first time he'd met him was still embarrassing. It made his insides burn with shame whenever he saw him. It didn't look like the guy was very keen to talk to him, anyway. That was possibly because he'd bumped into him that one time. He hadn't looked too happy about that.

The campus itself was very nice. His room was very spacious and had its own bathroom that he and Pit had to share. There'd been no issues with that so far, though it had only been the first week. As for everywhere else, he and Pit had explored around and found a lot more than they were expecting. It seemed like the campus had everything they could possibly want, from a cafeteria, to a swimming pool, to a gym, to a bar, to a nightclub and even to a large pond. Master Hand and Crazy Hand had clearly made sure that they'd be as comfortable as possible while staying here.

Since today was Saturday, he decided to take the opportunity to try out the washing machines at the launderette. Back home in Ordon Village, he'd just wash his clothes by hand, but, since these things existed and a few of his fellow students had taught him how to use them, he figured he should put them to good use.

Dressed in his casual clothes, he hummed a quiet melody as he carried his basket of clothing and washing-up powder down the stairs of the launderette. Eventually reaching the door, he pushed it open and walked inside.

He immediately froze. There, sitting on the small table in the middle of the room, one hand propping his head up and the other holding down the pages of a book, was Prince Marth. He was wearing a pale blue button-up shirt with a collar and short sleeves, but the feminine face, the blue hair and the tiara were unmistakable. Link felt the bottom drop out of his stomach.

The prince didn't even look up at him as he slowly walked past. His eyes were too transfixed on the words on the page. Link vaguely wondered what he was reading, but, at the same time, felt panicked that they were alone in the launderette together. Trying to calm himself, he picked out a washing machine, threw in his tunic, hat and pants and applied the washing-up powder.

Once the machine started whirring, he turned back to the prince, who was still staring at the book on the table. For a few moments, he contemplated just leaving and coming back later. Wasn't that cowardly, though? He tended to pride himself on being brave, but he'd not had very good experiences with this guy. Plus, he seemed really unapproachable.

Eventually - leaving his basket by the washing machine - his feet started carrying him in Prince Marth's direction. Stopping by his side, he glanced over at the book and blinked at the strange symbols written on the pages. Was this Japanese? He didn't know, but he assumed so. The symbols looked even more complex than Hylian symbols.

Marth huffed through his nostrils. "Can I help you?" he asked grumpily.

Link jumped slightly. "Oh... sorry," he replied. "No, it's fine..."

"Hmm." Marth looked up at him disinterestedly, then blinked. The arm that was holding up his head dropped to the table. "That's an... interesting outfit you're wearing..."

"Huh?" Link looked down at his clothes, which were a pile of differently-coloured fabrics sewn together, then looked back up at Marth's clothes. Suddenly, he felt self-conscious. "Oh, right..."

"It looks very..."

"Cheap?" Link averted his eyes. "Yeah, well, it is. My village can't afford much else."

"I see..."

There was an awkward silence, where Link suddenly felt like a pauper in the presence of this regal - and clearly very rich - man. Wearing this outfit had never been a problem in Hyrule, since most folks there, whether human _or_ Hylian, didn't have a lot of rupees to burn. Here, though, he was becoming uncomfortably aware of how out of place he was.

"So... you washing your tunic, too?"

Marth propped his head back up and looked back down at his book. "Yes."

"Oh, okay."

Another awkward silence followed. Link contemplated, for the second time, just leaving the room and coming back later. That way, he'd be out of Marth's hair and he wouldn't have to deal with any more awkwardness. However, his feet decided otherwise and carried him over to the chair opposite. Sitting down, he twiddled his thumbs as he waited to his clothes to wash, occasionally shooting glances at the prince.

"So, uh..." he continued.

Marth glanced up him, his head still angled downwards. "Mmm?"

"What do you think of the academy... uh... Prince Marth?"

Marth looked down again, turning a page of his book. "It's fine."

_Jeez, he really **is** unapproachable..._ Link thought. _And I thought **I** was bad..._ He paused as he thought of something to say. The silence of the room was deafening and he just had to do something about it. "I'm Link, by the way."

Marth glanced up at him again. It was like he was only giving him half his attention. "Hmm."

"... Have you met the _other_ Links? There's four of us."

"Yes, I have."

"Isn't it weird?"

"Weirder for _you_, I imagine."

Link chuckled. "Yeah, it is... though at least I don't have a younger version of _myself_ running around, like Fairy Link does."

Marth raised an eyebrow at him. "Fairy Link?"

"Oh, you didn't know? People have been giving the other Links nicknames. Pit started it, actually, then Sonic helped out."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. The Link with the fairy is being called Fairy Link... his younger self is being called Young Link... and the Link with cat eyes is being called Toon Link."

"I see..."

"It's pretty amusing."

"I'll bet."

"I wasn't _given_ a nickname. Maybe Pit should've given _me_ a nickname."

"Mmm." Marth's eyes drifted back down to his book.

Link huffed in slight annoyance. That was the longest he'd been able to hold Marth's attention. Man, this guy was tiring to talk to.

"So, I heard Roy's your roommate?"

"Mmm-hmm. Yours is Pit, I take it?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm." Marth turned another page.

"... What are you reading?"

"A Japanese novel."

"Oh..." Link paused. "Is it good?"

"Mmm."

Such non-committal answers from this guy. After spending a week with blabbermouth Pit, this was just torturous.

"Hey... Prince Marth?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry about last week."

Marth looked up at him with a slight frown. He stared at him for a moment. "What for?"

Link blinked. "Well... for bumping into you."

Marth continued to stare at him. He shook his head and looked back down at his book. "I don't remember."

Link was actually shocked. He'd been embarrassed about this - as well as that _other_ thing - all week and the prince didn't even remember? "The... first time we had homeroom together... I bumped into you by accident, 'cause I wasn't watching where I was going..."

Marth frowned at the pages of his book. He continued to do this for a few moments, before his face relaxed. "Oh, that..." He looked back up at Link. "Honestly, I'd forgotten all about that."

Link stared at him. "R-Really?"

"Mmm. I'll admit, you bumping into me _did_ annoy me a little... but you apologised for it, so that was the end of it." Link continued to stare at him. Marth raised an eyebrow. "Is there a problem?"

"Huh? Oh! No, not really..."

Marth shrugged and went back to reading his book. Link sat in awkward silence for a while afterwards, thinking that anything involving Marth seemed to leave him feeling awkward.

"So, _then_ I said..." a voice said as the door opened. Link looked up to see Ness and Lucas enter, each carrying a basket of laundry. Ness smiled. "Oh, hey, Link!"

"Hey."

"Hey, Prince Marth," Lucas said.

"Hey," Marth replied.

As the two youngsters set about washing their clothes, Link had to marvel at this academy. Since it wasn't technically a school, fighters of any age were allowed to join. It was a very strange concept, but he liked the idea of sharing a campus with people much younger than him.

As the door opened, yet again, in stepped Samus with her own basket of laundry. "Hey," she said.

"Hey," everyone replied, one after another.

Link had to admit, it was strange seeing Samus in a shirt and jeans. When he'd first met her, he hadn't even been able to tell she was a girl, because of that power suit she always wore. The day she'd taken it off and revealed her zero suit - which was so skin-tight, it almost looked painted on - she'd had more than a few guys staring at her, including Link himself. Well, it was hard _not_ to stare, especially considering she was so laid-back about it.

After the three newcomers had each turned on a washing machine, they emptied the room - likely going off to do other things while they waited for their clothes to wash - and, once again, Link was left alone with Marth.

What unnerved him the most was that the prince didn't seem the slightest bit bothered about his presence. Then again, would it be any better if he looked at him? He _was_ very pretty, after all, and that could be disturbingly distracting.

Link roughly shook his head. No, he wasn't going down that road again. Marth was a guy. A _guy_. It hadn't mattered when he'd thought he was a girl, of course, but now it was just plain awkward. One couldn't really deny that he was pretty, but come on, now.

"So, uh... Prince Marth..." he said. Marth gave a soft sigh. "Hmm?"

"Being called 'Prince Marth' is starting to wear on me."

"Oh, sorry... Uh... Your Highness?" Marth glanced up from his book and glared at him. He felt self-conscious again. "Your... Majesty?"

Marth closed his eyes and sighed irritably. "Just 'Marth' will do."

Link blinked at him. A prince wanted him to simply call him by his first name and nothing else? He didn't even do that with the princess of Hyrule.

"Are... you sure?"

Marth opened his eyes again. "Yes."

"Okay... well... thanks."

"Mmm." There was another awkward pause, this one stretching on for a while. Eventually, Marth spoke again, his eyes still on his book. "You know, technically, I suppose my name should be 'Mars'."

This surprised Link. "Mars?"

"Mmm. Like the Roman god of war." He looked up at Link. "It's actually Marusu, but I think 'Marth' sounds better than 'Mars'."

"Maru...?"

"Marusu." Marth looked back down at his book. "Ma-ru-su."

Link was geuniely fascinated, especially since this was the most conversation he'd ever gotten out of Marth. "Oh."

Marth turned a page. "Is there any reason why you're called 'Link'?"

"Huh? Oh, well... I don't really know." Link's voice lowered to a sad murmur. "Maybe my mom just liked the name..."

Marth glanced up at him, held the gaze for a few moments, then looked back down again. Not much was said after that.

* * *

Carrying his empty laundry basket back to his room after putting his clothes in a dryer - since he really couldn't face spending _another_ hour in the launderette - Link met up with Pit in their dorm corridor.

"Oh, hey, Link!" Pit said,

"Hey, Pit," he replied, his mind still reeling from his earlier encounter with Marth.

"A few of the students are going to the bar tonight! You wanna come?"

Link had never really been one for alcohol, but he wasn't against drinking it every so often. He nodded. "Sure."

Pit pumped a fist in the air. "Alright! The party's on!"

Link had to smile at his roommate's antics. He was certainly a lot more lively than a certain prince.

"Should be fun."

Pit put his arm back down. "You _bet_ it'll be fun! I heard there's a dance floor and really cool music in there!" He paused. "I was also thinking of checking out the nightclub at some point, too."

Link chuckled. "Hey, no rush. It's only the first weekend."

Pit puffed out a breath of air. "I guess so."

"Pika Pika!" a voice called out cheerfully.

Link looked down to see Pikachu and Pichu standing nearby. "Hey," he replied.

"Hey, guys!" Pit said.

Pikachu beamed at him. "Pika~!" he said.

"Pichu Pichu!" Pichu said, then chuckled to himself.

Pikachu gave his basic form a slight frown. "Pi Pikachu..."

Pichu winked back at him. "Pichu~!"

Pikachu turned back to Link and gave an exasperated shrug. "Pika..."

Link wished he knew what they were saying - he really did - but he didn't speak Pokemon. He shrugged back.

Suddenly, a look of dawning comprehension appeared on Pichu's face. He looked down the corridor. "Pichu Pi Pichu chu!"

Pikachu gave him an intrigued look. "Pikachu Pika?"

"Pichu!" Pichu turned to Link and Pit and waved. "Pi Pichu chu Pi!" He then took off down the corridor.

"Pika Pikachu Pi!" Pikachu paused, then sighed. He looked at Link and Pit and gave a small wave. "Pi Pika!"

"Bye," Link replied.

"See ya!" Pit said.

Smiling, Pikachu took off down the corridor after Pichu.

Link had to admit - as he watched the two electric mice leave - he'd certainly met some interesting individuals at this academy. They'd been plucked from all corners of the galaxy, each one worlds apart from the next, but he was glad that he'd come here and met them all.

Some, however - he noted as Ike and Snake wordlessly passed each other down the corridor - were a lot friendlier than others. He gave a quiet sigh through his nostrils, then headed back to his room to put his laundry basket away.


End file.
